Author Archives: Susan

About Susan

Susan Bellas is Manager of the Bethel Branch Library. She also plans and coordinates the Bethel monthly book group and other programs for adults. Look for Susan at the information desk or in the stacks hunting for a good book.

1967 Music and Library Memories

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In 1967, the Bethel Library, founded in 1929 by the Bethel Women’s Club and housed in the Grant Memorial Building, officially became a Branch of the Clermont County Public Library system.

What music were you listening to in 1967?  Do you remember these Grammy Award winners?

And how about these top hits and artists?

Come share your music and library memories from 1967 to the present on Saturday, August 11, 2012 when the Bethel Branch Library will officially celebrate its 45th Anniversary.  Bring the family for fun activities from 10:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m.  Kids can see dog tricks performed by Oliver the Bassett hound, make a craft and have their face painted.  All ages are welcome to listen to music by the Daniel Patrick Family Singers, meet Browser the library’s mascot, check out library and local history displays, enter contests to win prizes, mingle with local and library dignitaries and enjoy refreshments.

Take a “Step Back in Time with Stories of Bethel Library’s Past” on Tuesday, August 7, 6:30-7:45 p.m. and share your library memories with our panel of guest speakers including former and current Bethel library staff, “Worldwalker” author Steven Newman, Walter Carter from the Bethel Historical Museum and Bethel library volunteers and patrons.

What music were you listening to in 1967 in Bethel, Ohio?  We want to know!

 

 

 

Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand Part 1

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“Who is John Galt?”

For those brave souls who have read, are re-reading, or have just picked up Ayn Rand‘s 1,000+ page book Atlas Shrugged for the first time, welcome to this series of blog posts about this story.

Atlas Shrugged is written in three parts, each part named in honor of Aristotle‘s laws of logic:

Part One:     Non-contradiction
Part Two:     Either-Or
Part Three:   A is A

In Part One, we meet the main characters

  • Dagny Taggart, Francisco D’Anconia, Hank Rearden and other industrialists who use their brains and skills to produce products to make money and who eventually “go on strike”, withholding their knowledge and talent from the world;
  • James Taggart, Hank Rearden’s family, Dr. Stadler, politicians, and other industrialists sympathetic to the government, who look to seize and transfer wealth from those who produce it, to those who don’t produce, but “need” it;
  • Dr. Akston and Ragnar Danneskjold as role players in the discussion of philosophical ideas and ethical choices in the story;
  • Eddie Willers, a supportive character to Dagny Taggart and a weaving thread throughout the story connecting to John Galt;
  • the constant question…. “Who is John Galt?”

The story is set at an unspecified time in the United States although both the social customs and the level of technology are close to the 1950′s, especially when trains ruled both cargo and passenger transportation across the continent.  Television is a novelty, jet planes are new, there are no cell phones, it is mostly a “man’s world”, and everyone lights up a cigarette at every turn.

The tone is set by the title of Part One: Non-contradiction.  Aristotle’s Law of Non-contradiction, in simple English, is his “logical principle that a thing cannot be both A and not-A at the same time in the same respect.  It would be self-contradictory to say, “Your pants are on fire, and, what’s more, your pants are not on fire.” (see p. 196, Plato and a Platypus Walk Into a Bar: Understanding Philosophy Through Jokes by Thomas Cathcart and Daniel Klein).

Thus the struggle begins. The producers, who are men and women of action and motive, are expected to produce while government groups create new laws and directives that restrict their ability to produce. The producers face Aristotle’s Law of Non-Contradiction – they cannot be both A (able to produce) and non-A (unable to produce) at the same time in the same respect.

Why are there more and more accidents and disasters?  Why is food and general supplies running low?  What are the producers and government groups doing about it?  Who is responsible?

“Who is John Galt?”

Stay tuned for Part Two…..

Who is John Galt?

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If this question means anything to you then you’re part of a group of readers who

  1. are willing to tackle philosophical treatises imbedded in fiction,
  2. relate to stories that challenge man, mind, machine, and technology,
  3. enjoy long sagas, with character driven plots, suspense, heroes and villains,
  4. are curious about why books are “cult classics” or “must reads in a lifetime”,
  5. are willing to think, question, and challenge one’s own premises of existence,
  6. are willing to read over 1,000 pages in small print, in paperback format!

Have you read Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand?  If you have, what did you think of it?

If you haven’t read Atlas Shrugged, or started it but never got past page 100 or never finished it, then consider picking it up one more time.

Follow my blog posts over the next few weeks as I share my comments about the book and join in with your comments and questions, too!

What is my motive?  Who is John Galt?

Home

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Read this BEFORE going back home after a long absence, especially if to care for an aging parent or sibling.  There are behaviors in every character and interactions between the characters that bring to mind a thought provoking memory to relate to, to gain insight from, and to find a new way to deal with the past.

Home, by Pulitzer Prize-winning author Marilynne Robinson, is a book to be read or listened to on many levels.

First, as a Christian fiction or inspirational story. An elder minister father is dying. His youngest single daughter and wayward alcoholic son return home to care for him in his last days, hoping to reconcile the past.

Second, as a psychological study of family interactions and how aging children deal with a dying parent and each other after years apart. How family dynamics and events of when they were children resurface and are never forgotten, but rather have formed who they are and what they’ve become.

Third, as an historical fiction story portraying a way of life in a small rural town in Iowa and how early events formed and reinforced the culture, beliefs and lives of it’s inhabitants.

The reader comes to know the characters intimately through the relaxed pace and familiarity of the writing.  And one can’t help but reflect on one’s own family relationships and past events and how one deals with them through the years.

Marilynne Robinson is the author of the novels Gilead (2004) – winner of the Pulitzer Prize – and Housekeeping (1980).

One for the Money

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Fans of author Janet Evanovich are in for a treat with the January 27th, 2012 release of the movie version of the first book in the Stephanie Plum Mystery Series, One for the Money.

Do you remember the story of the first book, published in 1994?  Seventeen titles have been released in the series since then, with the latest, Explosive Eighteen, just out in November 2011.  It’s time to refresh your memory of the story that started it all before the movie hits the theaters.

Pick up a copy of the book in regular or large print or on CD at the library.  Plan to attend the Bethel Branch Book Discussion Group at 1:00 p.m. on Monday, January 9th to share your likes and dislikes about the book and the series, and to see a trailer of the upcoming movie.

What better way to warm up the early January cold nights than to re-visit the character, Stephanie Plum, from the beginning, or if you haven’t read books by this author, to start a new series, then talk about it with friendly, fellow bibliophiles?  Call the Bethel Branch Library at 513-734-2619 for a copy today.

New Year Resolution: The Walk

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It’s that time again when promises are made to make a life change. 

Consider a different perspective when exercise is in the equation.

Set the alarm 15 minutes early.  Don’t think.  Get up, and throw on your “hamper” clothes.  Put on a comfortable pair of walking shoes. Don’t think.  Check the temperature.  Grab a coat, hat, gloves, rain gear, or whatever is necessary for the weather.  Don’t worry about your hair or face. Depending on where you are bring a flashlight, a cell phone (for an emergency), and possibly mace.  Don’t think.  Don’t listen to music.  Open the door and GO!  Start with a 10 minute walk.  Don’t think!  For the first 5 minutes let yourself complain about anything and everything – muscle aches, sore joints, the cold, the heat, the rain, the spouse, the children, the boss….. now, STOP and breathe the fresh air.  Look at the sky.  Smell the earth, a local bakery, or flowers.  Feel the frost, the rain, the wind, the snow, the sun on your face.  Listen to the birds.  Look at the houses you pass by, the gardens, the decorations, the rhythm of the traffic and people at a particular point in time.  Let your senses experience the morning as it is, not with what you have to do that day. Connect with reality in a fresh, stimulating way.  Before you know it you’re back home, ready for that hot cup of coffee and ready to think!

The key is to just do it and to do it for YOU.  Don’t think.  Just move.

Before you know it you’ll watch for certain flowers to bloom again, for the feral cats to stake new territory, for the lonely dog in a back yard to welcome you, for the pinks, blues and oranges of the sunrise, and of the gentle, soft breeze on your face.  You’ll soon want to explore a little further, investigate a new area, or solve a problem.  That’s when a new novel, a how-to book, a just released movie, or a favorite musician’s latest CD will inspire.  That’s when you check out the library!

Don’t think, just do it for you.

Robin’s Egg Blue

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It all started with an egg.  Well, an egg shell.  Specifically, half of a robin’s egg shell.

It was lying on the ground, a soft blue color, cracked and empty.  What happened to its occupant?  Were the parents one of those crazed robins that pecked at the windows a few weeks back?  Where is the nest?  Was it a victim of a marauding bird species?  Was it even a robin’s egg?

So many unanswered questions.  And the blue, egg shell color, so light, so fresh, so spring!

Whether you are an avid birdwatcher, a serious ornithologist, or a backyard bird enthusiast, search the subject Birds in the catalog and link to resources to:

Regional bird watching tours and organizations are plentiful, too!

Bethel Volunteers Used Book Fair

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The Volunteers of the Bethel Branch Library will hold a Used Book Fair the week of June 13th, 2011.  Used fiction and nonfiction books and audio/visual materials will be available for all ages on the following days and times:

  • Monday-Tuesday, June 13-14, 3:00-7:30 p.m.
  • Wednesday-Thursday, June 15-16, 3:00-5:30 p.m.
  • Friday-Saturday, June 17-18, 9:00 a.m. – 4:30 p.m.

Fool me once, Fool me twice?

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April Fool’s Day is defined as “A day of practical jokes intended to make fools of unsuspecting people.” Unlike other holidays that have a clear origin, many stories of when, where, how and why April Fool’s Day is celebrated abound, lending to the foolishness of even trying to be serious about the day!

Watch out for pranksters, practical joksters, jesters, humorists or anyone looking to play a hoax on someone.  You may end up being a noodlehead of their wit and humor when you least expect it!

“The first day of April is the day we remember what we are the other 364 days of the year” – Mark Twain

Spring Quote Challenge

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Who wrote the following quotes about spring?  Find the answers in the eBook links below!

1.    “It was a lover and his lass, / With a hey, and a ho, and a hey nonino, / That o’er the green cornfield did pass, / In the spring time, the only pretty ring time, / When birds do sing, hey ding a ding, ding; / Sweet lovers love the spring. “
2.   ”Then came the lovely spring with a rush of blossoms and music, Flooding the earth with flowers, and the air with melodies vernal.”
3.   ”O! how this spring of love resembleth / The uncertain glory of an April day.”
4.   ”I have no doubt that certain learned men, now that the novelty of the hypotheses in this work has been widely reported—for it establishes that the Earth moves, and indeed that the Sun is motionless in the middle of the universe—are extremely shocked, …”
5.   ”Spring in the world!  And all things are made new!”
6.   ”In the spring a livelier iris changes on the burnished dove; / In the spring a young man’s fancy lightly turns to thoughts of love. “
7.   ”I’ll see you again, / Whenever spring breaks through again. “
8.   ”The year’s at the spring / And day’s at the morn; / Morning’s at seven; / The hill-side’s dew-pearled; / The lark’s on the wing; / The snail’s on the thorn: / God’s in his heaven— / All’s right with the world! “

 

The Oxford Dictionary of Quotations  edited by Elizabeth Knowles;

The Oxford Dictionary of Scientific Quotations  edited by W.F. Bynum and Roy Porter;

The Oxford Dictionary of American Quotations selected and annotated by Hugh Rawson and Margaret Miner;

The Oxford Dictionary of Modern Quotations by managing editor, Elizabeth Knowles;

The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Quotations by edited by Elizabeth Knowles;

or come visit us in the library and find the authors in one of the print books listed under the subject Quotations in our catalog.

Good luck!